Wells Festivals

The City of Wells now hosts festivals throughout the year - with two new festivals to take place in 2018.

The Festival of Filmtakes place at the end of April and 2018 will see the third annual festival.

In May the Comedy Festivalbrings the most exciting names to the pubs and concert halls of Wells

The popular English Country Garden Festival takes place in the gardens of the Bishop's Palace in June.

July will see two new festivals. The Theatre Festivalwill include classic drama including a community performance of Romeo and Juliet and exciting, emerging theatre-makers and the WOWFest - Wells Orchestral Weekend bringing young musicians to Wells.

During October the city of Wells plays host to two extraordinary weeks of festivals, attracting thousands of visitors to the city – as well as hundreds of residents, many of whom get involved as participants.

The Festival of Literature was established in 1992 and has gone from strength to strength and in 2017 celebrated its 25th birthday.

Wells Art Contemporaryor WAC organises an international visual arts competition with a rising reputation. The 2017 retrospective was a huge success, drawing on the work of prizewinners from previous years.

The Wells Food Festival involves a range of events including celebrating the best of Somerset's wonderful local produce from 150 of the area's best artisan producers and was attended by 15,000 people in 2017.

new music wells was founded by Matthew Owens, Organist & Master of the Choristers in 2008 and celebrates its 10th annoversary this year. This innovative festival is a retrospective of sacred choral and organ music of the previous forty years during all services, together with world premiere performances by Wells Cathedral Choir and Organists of music by internationally renowned composers, and composition students from Wells Cathedral School. There are also concerts and a public masterclass - and an exciting edition this year is a silent movie screening accompanied by improvised organ music.

The year ends with the unique Somerset spectacle that is Carnival threading through the streets of the city.

Visit the festivals' websites to find out more about these exciting events.